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Ahimsa, Anuvrat and Global Transformation

 

 

By Mr. Glenn D. Paige
Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Hawaii, USA

 

Jain Nonviolence : The more violent the world becomes, the more important becomes the preservation, development, and global sharing of the precious Jain tradition of ahimsa - non­ killing - respect for life in all its forms. Nonviolence is not only luxury for saints and martyrs, but an absolute necessity for continuation of human and planetary life.

Over the past eight years it has been a joyful privilege to be among those who have received the inspiration and teachings of H. H. Gurudev Acharya Tulsi, Acharya Mahapragya, and their dear disciples on visits to Ladnun, Rajsamand, Jaipur and Delhi. In Mehrauli, I have been blessed by introductory training in Preksha Meditation generously given by the late respected Shri J.S. Zaveri, Muni Mahendra Kumar and Shri Dharmananda.

Through the writings of Acharya Tulsi and Acharya Mahapragya, as well as the activities of the Jain Vishva Bharati - deemed to be a university. The Jain University of Nonviolence and the Anuvrat Vishva Bharati (Anuvrat Global Organization) - including visits by Samans and Samanis to Hawaii - I have been a grateful student of Preksha Meditation (Perception Meditation), J eevan Vigyan (Science of Living), and the Anuvrat (small vow) Movement. For those treasured gifts of spirit, knowledge, and experience I am profoundly grateful and am deeply indebted to all who have mad~ them possible.

Over the past twenty years as a political scientist, after being awakened by the spirit of 'no more killing', I have been seeking an answer to the question, 'Is a nonkilling society possible?' Conventional wisdom in the West and in most of the world is based upon the assumption that it is not. My fellow political scientists tell me that it is 'unthinkable.' They customarily give three reasons why they expect killing to continue forever: (1) Human Nature, (2) Economic Scarcity, and (3) Rape. That is, humans, like animals, are killers by nature; conflict over scarce resources will always lead to killing; and men must always be prepared to kill to defend their female family members against rape. Since most political scientists are men, these are male formulations. Women differ by substituting lethal defence against threats to kill their children instead of rape as a reason why achievement of nonkilling social conditions is impossible.

As I understand them, the teaching of Acharya Tulsi and Acharya Mahapragya offer a way out of this violent pessimism. Please allow me to share my understanding of these teachings and please correct me if I am in error.

First, Jain teachings view humans as not being inherently murderous but as having souls capable of expressing ahimsa (nonviolence). Humans are not necessarily killers. The survival and multiplication of humanity thus far proves that the law of life, ahimsa is capable of prevailing over the deviance of lethality. This is, of course, not unconditionally guaranteed forever; humans can choose to respect or destroy the lives, their own as well as of others.

Second, through aparigraha (self-imposed limitation of possessions and passion) humans need not be the murderous slaves of either economics or sexuality. Limited need and equitable distribution can prevail over infinite wants and rapacious exploitation.

Third, through anekant, recognition of alternative approaches to Truth. Jain teachings call for tolerant receptivity to diverse conceptions of actual and desirable social reality. Failure to respond to human, spiritual and material needs, such as for respect and well being, causes violence. Violent imposition of monistic solutions to multifaceted conflicts causes more violence. Therefore, the Jain doctrine of anekant contributes to need-responsive processes of social problem- solving that are necessary for the creation and maintenance of a nonkilling society.

Fourth, the practice, of Preksha Meditation offers a simple but ingenious way to discover nonviolence within each individual and to connect that nonviolence with actions to create and maintain a non-violent society. Preksha Meditation offers a solution to a serious problem that constantly perplexes peace and justice advocates in the West, i.e. how to connect 'inner peace' of individuals with the 'outer peace' of actions to change the violent society.

The Preksha solution is found in the practice of auto- suggestions. After attaining inner approximations of ahimsa through relaxation, perception of psychic centers, and perception of psychic colours, each person can predispose himself by auto-suggestions to act towards others in ways that will create social ahimsa. For example, one can be self­predisposed to become more humble, tolerant, gentle, and fearless.

Fifth, the auto- suggestion of Preksha Meditation can be connected to the conscious practice of Anuvrat - small vows that express ahimsa, anekant and aparigraha in individual and social life. Anuvrat offers humankind practical steps to work, locally and globally, for peace and disarmament, economic justice, human rights, and protection of the environment. It offers practical steps to bring about cooperation to solve such problems by men and women, races, classes, religions, nations, and other sectors of society. The Anuvrat Movement calls upon each individual and each social group to define and impose upon themselves those actions that, step by step, are likely to bring about non-violent cultural, social, economic and political changes.

It should be noted that both Preksha Meditation and Anuvrat make possible the combination of individual freedom with social responsibility - something sought by Western political philosophers for centuries. That is, individuals can choose to implant within themselves desirable behaviours by auto­suggestions (Preksha Meditation); and they can impose upon themselves small vows they deem will contribute to the well- being of society (Anuvrat). At the same time they can agree to join with others to incorporate similar behaviour in their Preksha Meditation and Anuvrat practices. Thus, the individual is empowered to find nonviolence within and to express it in cooperative social action. We might call it Preksha Swaraj (self-reliance) and Anuvrat Satyagraha (non-violent action) for Sarvodaya (the non-violent well-being of all).

Centre for Global Nonviolence : For these reasons, the Jain tradition of ahimsa, Preksha Meditation, Anuvrat, Jeevan Vigyan, the Jain Vishva Bharati Institute (deemed to be a university), and the Anuvrat Vishva Bharati are of the highest inspiration and interest for the infant centre for Global Nonviolence. The Centre was incorporated as an independent non-profit institution in the State of Hawaii on October 2, 1994, which was, as you know, the I25th birth anniversary of Gandhiji.

The Centre for Global Nonviolence is founded on the principle of no more killing. It seeks to cooperate with individuals and institutions throughout the world to advance the spirit, science and skills of nonviolence ­through research education/training, and policy development to assist practical non­violent social transformation from the village to the global polity.

Therefore, we bow to the Jain tradition of ahimsa as the highest dharma and seek to diffuse its message of respect for life throughout the world. In the spirit of anekant we seek to combine the power of Jain ahimsa with non-violent principles to be found to varying degrees in all world religious faiths and humanist philosophies. The world needs faiths and humanist philosophies. The world needs a powerful tradition of Global Ahimsa, created in the spirit of anekant that draws upon all sources of non-violent spiritual inspiration.

Our Centre recognizes that the spiritual base of nonviolence is absolutely essential, but that spirit alone is not enough. Thus we seek to combine and advance scientific knowledge that will enable humankind to overcome violence - to put an end to killing ­and to extend the principle of ahimsa to all aspects of planetary life. That is why we respect the combination of science and spirit that offers .the world Preksha Meditation and Jeevan Vigyan.

I will never forget how surprised and enlightened I was on my first meeting with Acharya Mahapragya in 1987,' when I asked him if he thought it possible for humans to create a nonkilling society. He replied, "We'll never get to nonviolence by religion alone." I never expected such an answer from a saintly man of religion. Then he went on to explain the origins of nonviolence in terms of neuroscience, biochemistry and endocrinology as affected in part by "What we eat." For my part, as a social scientist, I had finally come to appreciate that we will never reach a non-violent society by science alone. Spirituality and science must be combined. None can succeed alone to bring about non­violent social change.

Thus our Centre seeks to encourage exploration of the scientific contributions to nonviolence discoverable in the natural sciences, biological sciences, behavioural sciences, and social sciences - as well as in other sources of knowledge in the arts, humanities, and professions. Of special interest are such things as brain science, gender relations, and the creation of non­violent economic and political processes that respond to human needs and respect planetary life.

Our Centre seeks also to learn from and to advance the skills of practical non-violent action, drawing upon the experiences of men and women in cultures throughout the world. That is why we have such interest in learning from the Anuvrat Movement and combining its practical methods with those of Gandhian satyagraha and methods for nonviolent social change developed by Martin Luther King, Jr., and others practising nonviolence in various cultures.

To combine the spirit, science, and skills of nonviolence to assist transition from global conditions of bloodshed and threat to planetary life will require serious institutional development. Institutions grow out of vision that engage human talents and material resources. To understand the need for non­ violent institutional development, compare an institution devoted to violence: the United States Department of Defence. Its principal task is to prepare to kill or threaten to kill for American interests anywhere in the world as ordered by its Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States. At its Pentagon Headquarters 23.000 civilian and military workers engage in daily planning and support of the operations of 1,610.490 uniformed members of the armed forces. They are backed by $263.7 billion provided by Congress in the 1995 military budget (Source: U.S. Department of Defence. Office of Public Affairs, January 23, 1995). Such sums engage the talents of scientists, engineers, corporations, labour unions, and persons in many other sectors of society. Billions of dollars are devoted yearly to invention and development of new weapons.

Compared to such a Lethal Giant how tiny is our institutional idea of creating a Centre for Global Nonviolence with a small core team of seven persons.

They will work cooperatively with individuals and institutions throughout the world on project of mutual benefit to advance research, education/training and applied nonviolence. The idea is not to build big central institution but to establish a small group that can encourage non-violent global creativity, seek resources to carry out projects, and carry ideas forward to stages where they can be taken up by private and public institutions with large-scale implementation capabilities. The organizational model is something like that of the United Nations University based in Tokyo which, based on a large endowment from Japan, engages the talents of universities throughout the world even though the UN University headquarters has no faculty or students of its own.

Against this background on behalf of the Centre for Global Nonviolence which is just entering the world, I express profound respect for the eternal Jain spirit of ahimsa that will inspire its life as well as deep gratitude for the practical gifts of Anuvrat, Preksha Meditation and Jeevan Vigyan that will contribute to its skills.

 

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Article Source : Anuvibha Reporter ( Special Issue : Dec. 2000 )
Ahimsa, Peacemaking, Conflict Prevention and Management Proceedings and Presentations
Fourth International Conference on Peace and Nonviolent Action ( IV ICPNA )
New Delhi : Nov. 10-14, 1999

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Mail to : Ahimsa Foundation
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